Chapter 1 Chapter 1

During the first day of the semester, my boyfriend, William Evans, brought my luggage up to my dorm room for me. Out of the four of us who would share a dorm room, I was the last one to arrive. Once I finished unpacking my things, Natasha Tate, whose bed was across from mine, approached me with a stern expression. "Tamara Sullivan, right? I don't think it's right for you to get a senior to help you carry your luggage around on the very first day of school. After all, it's better not to get too chummy with guys so soon. You should learn to keep an appropriate distance. If you feel bad declining his help, give me his contact information, and I'll pass on the message on your behalf." Turning scarlet, I awkwardly explained that William was my boyfriend and a fellow freshman at our university. "Oh," Natasha remarked. She gave me a meaningful look before heading back to her bed. After introducing ourselves, we all chatted for a bit. It was already noon when William finished unpacking. He had come over to take me out to lunch, so I politely rejected my dormmates' offer to have lunch with them. The others were fine with it, but Natasha clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "Tamara, this is going to be our first time sharing a meal together, but you're not even joining us. That's rather unsocial of you." Though I felt rather mystified, I kept a smile up and promised to treat them to a meal next time. However, Natasha refused to let up. Scoffing, she instructed me to ditch lunch with William and join them instead. Connie Orwell and Brenda Sterling, my other two dormmates, awkwardly waved their hands and said that wasn't necessary. Meanwhile, my phone buzzed as well. William was hurrying me. Seeing this, Natasha became even more furious. She shook her head at me and declared, "See? Your boyfriend doesn't care about you making friends at all. And you! You're even willing to neglect our friendship for the sake of a guy." Puzzled to no end, I frowned. I couldn't figure out how this was a sign that William, whom I had been dating for a year now, didn't care about me. Plus, what friendship did I have with a bunch of dormmates I was only meeting for the first time today? When my phone rang once more, I walked off, but I could hear Natasha's frustrated ranting ringing out behind me. "To think that a college student would turn out to be a love-addled fool. Just wait and see. She's going to get dumped!" I met up with William, who took my purse from me with a smile, saying, "I booked us a table at the restaurant you've been wanting to try. You've been dying to eat there for so long now, and you even told me I had to make sure we got a table there, so what took you so long to come down?" As I wrapped my arms around his waist, the gentle breeze washed away all the confusion and annoyance I felt from what happened earlier. I responded light-heartedly, "I had to wait a while to get on the elevator. There were too many people. Sorry for being late." By the time we got back to the campus after lunch, it was already late in the afternoon. All of my dormmates were lying on their beds and playing with their phones. I gave them a casual apology before handing out the gifts William and I bought for them. It was a small bottle of perfume that had a pretty decent scent and an affordable price. I rather liked it myself. Connie and Brenda happily accepted the gift before teasing Willian and me about our loving relationship. When it was Natasha's turn, however, she picked up the bottle of perfume with two fingers before remarking with a taunting look, "It's not even a well-known brand. Who would give something like that as a gift?" Though I felt displeased, it was only the first day of the semester. There was no reason for me to get into a fight with a dormmate already. I tried to brush it off with a half-hearted response, but Natasha wasn't done yet. Natasha declared, "Judging by how cheap it is, I bet you bought it yourself. Why did you bother lying by saying that you and your boyfriend bought it together? Would he even pay for you? I bet you're the one who pays for all your meals and outings. Don't blame me for not reminding you that you'll be doomed for a lifetime if you willingly fork out all your money for a guy!" I turned back toward Natasha, my expression dark. My tone became a little unpleasant as well. Holding my hand out to her, I said, "My boyfriend and I split all our bills. Stop coming up with such ridiculous assumptions about our relationship. How he treats me is none of your business. Since you don't like the perfume, you can give it back to me." Not only did Natasha not return the perfume, but she even started smiling smugly as if she had discovered a secret of mine. "You two split your bills?" Natasha exclaimed. "Well, just you wait! I bet he keeps a record of every bit of money he spends. Once you two break up, he's going to ask you to pay him back. When the time comes, it'll be too late for you to regret not heeding my advice!" I couldn't be bothered to entertain her nonsense any longer, so I walked off.

Chapter 2 Chapter 2

Orientation camp started. As William and I belonged in different majors, he had to make quite the trip to come over to my side of the campus. We usually had our lunch and dinners together. Alas, every time that happened, Natasha would mock me, calling me a fool for not socializing with my peers to spend time with a guy instead. She even claimed I had no friends. In reality, I got along pretty well with everyone in my class, as well as Connie and Brenda. Whenever there was an announcement, they would inform me about it. Natasha was the only one who seemed to have a problem with me. Although she said it was for my own good, she did nothing but chastise Willian and me. She wouldn't even tell me about any last-minute changes to the class events or orientation camp schedules. Once, after a camp session, I took a bottle of water from William and only managed to take a sip before Natasha spotted me. Acting as though she unearthed all the proof she needed, she pointed at the drink William was holding and said with an amused expression, "What did I tell you? He merely bought you a bottle of water—the cheapest thing there is—while he got himself a drink that costs at least twice as much. Aren't you going to break up with such a stingy guy?" William and I exchanged confused looks before I replied, "You got the wrong idea, Natasha. I like drinking water, and I don't like sweet drinks. I don't think there's a problem with him buying something else for himself." Natasha glanced at William before scoffing at me, saying, "I didn't expect you to come up with excuses for his sake. You're hopeless! I'm going to stop wasting my efforts on you. You'd better not come crying to me when he dumps you!" She stalked off after saying her piece, leaving William and me to exchange puzzled looks. Upset at being unfairly branded in such a way, William wanted to drag me off and buy me a meal—and a bunch of other stuff—to prove himself. Even when I stopped him, he said with a fearful expression, "Tammy, if you're displeased with anything I do, make sure you tell me about it. I'll change my ways! Please don't misunderstand me." William and I were high school classmates, and we had been dating for a year now. Naturally, I was fully aware of the kind of person he was. I let out a sigh, feeling helpless about the situation with Natasha. Perhaps she was truly trying to look out for me. Maybe her domineering way of doing things was merely out of concern that I might be tricked by a guy. Either way, it wasn't a big deal. Since we had to share a dorm room, there was no reason for us to get into any conflicts. When I got back to the dorm room that night, Natasha was lying on her bed. I didn't know what she was doing, but I vaguely heard the words "dating" and "my dormmate's boyfriend". However, when I walked up to her, she warily put her phone away and asked, "What do you want?" I felt a little confused, but I went ahead with my decision to have a proper chat with her to try and ease the tension between us. "Natasha, thank you for being concerned about me, but William and I were high school classmates. We've been dating for a year now, and I know him very well—" As soon as I got that out, Natasha shrieked, "High school sweethearts? I can't believe you two dated in high school! Don't you know that high school relationships never end well? How can you think he's a decent guy when he convinced you to date him in high school? "Not only is he being irresponsible with his own life but with yours too! I can't believe you're standing up for a guy like him. You're a hopeless, love-addled brain romantic, alright! A guy like him won't treat you well. You should break up with him as soon as possible." In reality, William and I were study partners first before we ended up dating. Being a cool-headed person, I was able to keep an appropriate distance and prioritize my studies. William never crossed the line either. We got into Argan University together, and even our families approved of our relationship. And yet, Natasha was disparaging our relationship in every way possible. In the end, I didn't say the words I had been meaning to say to her. The look of scorn and contempt on her face pissed me off too. I even thought it was silly that I had even thought about mending my relationship with her. "It's none of your business," I said before walking off. After rolling her eyes at me, Natasha took her phone out and started tapping away furiously.

Chapter 3 Chapter 3

Ever since then, Natasha and I barely ever interacted. To her, I was a love-addled fool who refused to listen to others. She often belittled me in front of our classmates while talking herself up. She said I was frivolous with my money, spending all of it on a guy. I was unlike the virtuous and hard-working her who spent all of her part-time earnings on herself. Natasha also said I dressed provocatively, unlike her who made herself look decent and sophisticated. She claimed I spent all my time obsessing over a guy while she focused all her effort on her studies. Eventually, the gossip got back to me. According to her, I was a rebellious, love-addled fool who stayed out all night and acted domineering toward others. Outraged, I left William and went back to my dorm room. I flung the door open, the loud bang drawing the attention of the surrounding classmates who carefully stole peeks in my direction. Natasha was the only one in the dorm room. I walked up to her and held my phone up to her. On the screen was a forum post she had made to rant about my various lifestyle habits and dating life. Although it had been made anonymously, I instantly knew she had posted it. However, contrary to what she claimed, I didn't spend all my time and energy on going out with William. As the class representative, I had been entirely preoccupied with orientation-related work. It was Elaine Irving, the student council academic affairs representative, who told me about what happened and reminded me to clear my name. Natasha was a little intimidated by how furious I was, but when she saw how many people were spying on us, she stubbornly insisted she did it for my own good. I threw all of the work I had been doing lately at her and lashed out at her loudly enough to ensure that the onlookers outside could hear me. "This whole time, I've been busy helping our student advisor, Ms. Allen, with all the work needed for orientation. Every night, I stay up late in our dorm room working on the proposals and documents! Were you too blind to notice me? "I'm warning you. Stop trying to interfere with my life! If you create any more rumors about William and me, I'll report you to Ms. Allen!" After I confronted Natasha, she deleted her post. Once our other classmates heard the truth, they started distancing themselves from her too. I thought things had finally been settled for good, but Natasha only managed to lay low for two days before she started causing trouble again. During the last night of orientation camp, William went up on stage with a guitar and sang a love song dedicated to me. It sparked a round of applause, and everyone cheered us on encouragingly too. Natasha was the only one who remained indifferent the whole time before proclaiming with a snort, "All he did was sing a song. What a tacky display. Only dumb and inexperienced young women like you will think this is a sign of love." I was in too good of a mood to let her mockery bother me. That night, she abruptly came up to me and said with a meaningful expression, "I'll tell you the truth, Tamara. I'm actually proficient in physiognomy, and William's face has every marker for a textbook cheater. He's got a ton of romantic entanglements, and he's unreliable too. He can't stay loyal to you. You should take my advice and cut your losses before it's too late." I couldn't figure out what Natasha was up to this time. Seeing how serious she seemed, I instinctively refuted her, "That's not true. He treats me very well and keeps me informed of everything he does. He has never done anything to arouse my suspicions." Natasha sneered as if she had predicted my response from the start. "And you didn't believe me when I called you a love-addled fool. So what if he hasn't betrayed you yet? He'll cheat on you in the future. You shouldn't be so hung up on a guy." The more she said, the more emphatic she became. She called him petty and superficial, claiming he only asked me out on dates because he was possessive and wanted to gaslight me. Frowning hard, I couldn't take it anymore. I called her a lunatic. Alas, not even two days passed when I became the victim of cyberbullying.

Chapter 4 Chapter 4

Seemingly overnight, I received a ton of private messages on one of my social media platforms. They were all from strangers who called me an ingrate and claimed I was a fool—a love-addled fool who didn't know what was good for me. Their insults left me feeling outraged and indignant. Amid my confusion, I saw a video Natasha posted. It turned out that she had been posting videos about me online, claiming I was her love-addled brain dorm mate who dedicated my entire life to my boyfriend. In her video, William was described as an average yet overconfident guy who was mean and miserly. I was the fool who argued with my dormmates over a guy. Meanwhile, Natasha was the kind and clear-headed one who adamantly tried to help me get out of my awful predicament. She claimed to have painstakingly tried to convince me to leave my boyfriend, but I was too muddle-headed. Not only did I not accept her kind gesture, but I even called her a lunatic. After her exasperated rant about me, she started wailing about how hurt and disappointed she was—and how despicable it was for me to have taken her kindness for granted. "The bastard keeps her on the hook with a bottle of water and a song! She even gives him all of his money. I bet that even when he cheats on her and makes her fund his mistress' lifestyle, she wouldn't say no either," Natasha declared. "We women need to maintain our rationality. We shouldn't let a guy trick us into giving him all that we have to give, or else, we will never be able to end up in a happy marriage!" This wasn't even the first video. A few days ago, she had already started secretly ranting about me. She said I was spoiled, immature, and entitled. She claimed I loved flaunting my money and was a foolish woman who only cared about romance. That video of hers received the most attention. It had hundreds of thousands of views and over ten thousand likes as well. Countless people in the comments agreed with her, calling her kind and smart while insulting me for being a mean and foolish embarrassment to women everywhere. Someone managed to unearth my identity, and countless people flooded my social media to leave me scathing messages in an attempt to save me from being a love-addled brain fool. While some left thoughtful advice, most of the comments were insult-filled rants that called me desperate, said I had a fetish for ugliness, and mocked me for not heeding other people's advice despite being brainless myself. Reining in my rage, I continued scrolling through the comments and found one that Natasha left yesterday. She said she was going to take the advice from the online commenters and stop her efforts to save me from ruin. Instead, she was going to stand by and enjoy the pathetic state I would be in when my bastard boyfriend inevitably cheated on me before dumping me. She promised to secretly take photos of me and share them online. Just today, her latest video included a photo of me waking up at 7:00 am to put makeup on. Her caption said, "My love-addled dormmate must be desperate for love. Look at her waking up early just to doll herself up for her boyfriend because she's scared to lose his affection. "She's not at all like the rest of us who don't bother making ourselves look good for a guy. We are able to carry ourselves with grace and embrace our natural beauty." In reality, there had been a dress rehearsal for Orientation Night that I needed to attend this morning. Being the host of the event, I had only put on some makeup out of respect for the formal event. In the afternoon, she secretly took a photo of me frowning while on the phone. This time, she wrote in the caption, "The bastard gaslit her again, but even though she was upset, she couldn't do anything about it. All she could do was beg for him to forgive her. If it were me, I would've kicked that bastard to the curb!" The comments were full of praise for her, but the truth was, I had been on the phone with someone else on the event committee to discuss the plan for Orientation Night, and I was only frowning in frustration due to work. I snorted in anger. This was how I found out Natasha had been secretly snapping photos of me and came up with random stories about me before posting them online to seek validation from others, getting them to castigate me. I was so furious that my limbs went cold, but my cheeks boiled. Just as I was about to confront her, I suddenly got a message from William. "Do you know who Tash could be? Whoever she is, she's been harassing me for days now! What a lunatic!" My sixth sense went into overdrive, and once I checked the chat logs William sent, I was able to confirm my suspicions. The person named Tash started by sending a mysterious yet pointed message that read, "Hi, William. I'm proficient in physiognomy, and your girlfriend has the textbook features of a cheater who's plagued with many romantic entanglements. She's too seductive. She'll bring you bad luck and drive away all of your good fortune. It's best if you break up with her as soon as possible." It was obvious. Tash was Natasha!